Drinking motives and college alcohol problems: a prospective study

Abstract

Alcohol misuse among college students is well-documented, and cross-sectional research has identified attempts to cope with unpleasant emotions, enhance pleasant emotions, facilitate social interactions and conform to peers as distinct motivational pathways impacting alcohol-related consequences. Despite these findings, results from the prospective literature have been mixed. In the current study, a multi-institutional sample of first-year college students was surveyed at two points in time to measure alcohol-related problems and students’ drinking motives. Cross-lagged structural models indicate that pleasant emotion enhancement and depression coping motives were positively related to changes in alcohol-related problems over time. These results suggest interventions and prevention programs which focus on students’ use of alcohol to alter their emotions should be given greater attention.